Dalbyboken: en omvärdering av attributionskriterierna

The Dalby Gospel Book, dating from the eleventh century, is the oldest preserved complete manuscript with a medieval Scandinavian provenance, and has rightly been considered a document of great historical importance. Local patriotism has coloured its attribution by scholars to Dalby, with arguments presupposing judgemental quality assessments, questionable Anglo-Saxon parallells and alleged scribal errors, despite the fact that the pericopes within the manuscript unambiguously point to the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen. By examining the preparatory drawing and the colour stratigraphy of the illuminations, the primitive features and a Viking-style triquetra are shown to be secondary additions.Anglo-Saxon influences and scribal errors are dismissed, and an alternative historical context is presented by the ordination of Bishop Egino in 1059/60, suggesting a German origin of the Dlaby Gospel Book. The sumptuous metal covers of the binding are usually dated separately due to differences in material and technique, but the variations and anomalies can easily be accounted for within the same workshop. Both covers are dated to the middle of the twelfth century, although one cover was repaired during the thirteenth or fourteenth century.